here is a good post about tmac v. lebron by feign. its all about winning. what separates tmac from the kobe/wade/bron is the playoffs. sad but true. no one cares about the strength of teams u play or the conference u play in. at the end of the day, the record books say - tmac neverbeen into the 2nd round. he's had magnificent playoff series (29, 7, 6 for his career). but the main thing feign said in this article is what i have bee nsaying all along. LeBron, T-Mac and the most exclusive club Bruce Bowen was asked again about his matchup with LeBron James. That made roughly 10,000 questions about the assignment safely assumed of the league's most revered perimeter defender against its most celebrated new star. The next question was better. He was asked if he had ever been asked so many times about going against any opponent. Bowen lives against superstars. He has gone against Kobe Bryant in long, tough playoff series. If the Spurs play Miami, he's got Dwyane Wade. If it's the Nuggets, it's Carmelo Anthony. Never, he said. Never had he been so often asked about defending one guy as he has since James and the Cavaliers finished off the Pistons to set up their Finals meeting with Bowen and the Spurs. Then he listed a few perimeter players he considered in James' class. "There's other great players in the league as well," Bowen said. "You have Kobe. You have Tracy McGrady. You have Ray Allen. You have Chauncey (Billups). On down the line." At his age, and with his remarkable size, James is special. But as Bowen quickly listed McGrady, and with the memory of James' sublime Game 5 performance still fresh, is McGrady in the Kobe, LeBron, D-Wade class? He cannot claim the primary qualification. In 10 years in the league, he has not won a playoff series. He has not always, or even often, had the better team. But he had two-game leads in the past three playoff series he played so it is a fair point to make. Bryant and Wade have rings. James got the Cavaliers to the Finals in his fourth season. As Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said of James, "In order to be the best player, one of the best players in the world, you should have one of those (a championship) on your resume. It's a matter of time for him." But if McGrady's lack of any playoff victory is enough to judge, then there's no point in further analysis. And where is the fun in that? As incredible as James' performance was, McGrady is one of the small handful of guys who can do that sort of thing. He's never done it there, so deep into the playoffs having never been there, but he has done that kind of a spectacular thing. He's even had some pretty incredible playoff games. But last season, maybe even since the Dallas series, there have only been rare occasions that there was a sense he could go and just keep going the way James did. He had many stretches, but has not taken over games and made it his own to that degree. That's no longer his job, or at least it wasn't last season. He initiated the offense nearly as often as he finished it, and he often deferred to Yao Ming. Even when it was time to take over, it's even tougher to carry a team on call. But the question is not whether he has done that, it is whether he still can. The second season after an injury is often better than the first. McGrady spent last summer trying to get back in shape after the back injury that ended the previous season. When he gets back to work this summer, it will be to get his game back to his standards. He got it going pretty well in January. And the Rockets needed his deft touch as a playmaker. But again, that's not in question. Part of Rick Adelman's initial plan for the Rockets was to take some of the playmaking burden off McGrady, and perhaps with that, free him to score with whatever regularity he can. To other players, including the best defenders, McGrady is as much of a load as anyone. He has not taken a playoff series and won it the way James did last week. That doesn't mean he won't. The Rockets are certainly planning on having a team that can finally break through. There are times he has the kind of determination James showed. There was a time McGrady had that kind of ability. That was pretty special, all-time stuff. It's not too late for McGrady. But can he do that? Will he?
an update on tmac's offseason workout by jon Last I heard, he had seen doctors and no surgery was needed or scheduled. He had been working out at Toyota Center regularly through Monday, then left town to shoot a commercial. Jonathan last offseason - get into shape this offseason - get his game back into shape => i'm expecting a super duper season mcgrady. last season i had doubts. this season i expect your best overall season ever.
I'm pretty sure he was talking about Yao and his shoulder. Even better for your argument assuming TMac is actually working out
God no...Yao Ming is worth his weight in platinum considering how downplayed the 5 is in this league nowadays. Lebron is just trying to take the torch from Kobe. The hype behind the dude annoys the hell out of me. I know everyone WANTS him to be Michael so badly that they already deem him the greatest 22 year old ever or whatever. Timmy D won his first championship at the ripe ole age of 23. Where's his dues? Tim Duncan is better than Lebron James, and Yao Ming = Lebron James. Just not in the predictable slow paced JVG I love defense system. Put Lebron's Cavs in the West and they get swept in the first round.
Come on LBJ is from the East, u try to put him in the western conf and see how he performs - wouldn't get thru the first rounf like T-Mac n Yao
I would do it for T-mac, Yao, Howard for Lebron, Donyell, Marshall, 2007 2nd round pick, 2008 1st round pick
if this is how lebron is gonna play v. a western powerhouse, u gonna need 2 yao mings to get past the first round.
This thread is dumb as hell. Kobe can't even get out of the 1st round in the West and he plays defense. KG can't get his team of scrubs to the playoffs in the West. It seems like folks don't realize how pathetic the Leastern conference is right now. Props to Bron for getting his team out of the weak conference, but the Spurs are clearly showing the disparity....
The mavs were in the same position last year as the spurs are and they lost. I would trade either yao or tmac for LBJ. He is 22 and has done more than either of them put together.
i think if tmac knew the east would b this bad, he would stay in orlando and would have gone to the finals w/ dhoward dude. the east is that bad. look at how overmatched (and its not really close as both games could have been 20+ pt blowouts if the spurs were not sleepwalking).
You guys please stop kissing TMAC's azz!! Yes Eastern is bad, but so why TMAC did get out of 1st round even when he's in east?
You guys please stop kissing TMAC's azz!! Yes Eastern is bad, but so why TMAC did not get out of 1st round even when he's in east?
u kiddin me right? how long have u watched the NBA? tmac went against a hornets team that had baron davis, young PJ brown, and paul silas as the coach. he also went against a milwaukee bucks team that was the phoenix suns at the time w/ ray allen, sam cassel, and big dog robinson. then he faced the detroit pistons WITH A #1 SEED and he as the 8th seed. there's a reason tmac only got the 7 or 8 seed when he was in the east. his team sucked. ppl have seen the schizophrenic drew gooden. he was the 2nd option on tmac's team when he was there. his Z was andrew declerq/steven hunter/pat burke/50 yr old pat ewing/shawn kemp getting his child support check. mike miller was his only "good" player but he was fairly young then. now let's see who have lebron faced? the wiz twice but that team plays no D. and this yr 2 of their best players were out. the nets who tmac can beat easily. pistons were tough, but they had no ben wallace and we saw how lebron went to the rim like crazy in game 5 (compare last yr v. this yr w/ ben and w/o ben when they faced the cavs). again, it doesn't matter who u face. its not like lebron asks to be in the east. and tmac asks to be in the west. but cmon. at least the east back then when tmac was there had some stars.
Hey what else can I say to your post..??? It speaks my mind.... My Feelings to the trade proposal.............HELL F**KEN NO!!
